The Road to the Pros

U.S. sports culture for many adolescents, from middle school, or younger, through high school, seems increasingly characterized by a trend that leads young athletes to the narrow pursuit of excellence in just a single sport. The potential rewards are significant: advanced athletic development, personal satisfaction and even college scholarships and free tuition. But less obvious are unsentimental statistics that paint a starker picture of the frequency of that level of athletic achievement. Here is a look, in numbers, at the very narrow road to elite athletic success.